The first time I visited Chicago, about 25 years ago, I asked the clerk at the front desk of my hotel if he would point me in the direction of the John Belushi statue, the John Belushi memorial, the John Belushi honorary whatever. Because I had always assumed there was one. Alongside "Star Wars," K-tel records and Steve Martin, this Albanian-American from Wheaton played such an outsized role in so many '70s childhoods, there had to be something. Those dancing eyebrows, that coiled Tasmanian Devil caricature of a presence, that cheerfully rampaging personality behind a sweet smile — Belushi was the unshackled id of the Carter administration, the rebel you wanted to be before you knew any better. My friend Todd Sharon and I danced as Blues Brothers at our high school talent show. And to this day, along with my first phone number, I can recite Belushi's very first line on the first episode of "Saturday Night Live" from 40 years ago:

Shake Shack threw open its doors at the corner of Ohio and Rush streets on Tuesday, and threw off a bit of its mystique.
Now I love a good meal more than most and I'll cop to having made a detour to stand in line to pay a premium for the highly regarded...

No one who met George Motz on the afternoon of April 19, 2003, as he bit into his first double cheeseburger in the subterranean Billy Goat Tavern on Hubbard Street — “It is incredible, everything I had heard it was. The taste is distinctive...

Sen.-elect Mark Kirk bought a beer Wednesday evening for his vanquished opponent, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias. But before Kirk leaves for Washington, he should also be sure to send a case of the finest spirits to the man who gave...

Ronnie "Woo-Woo" Wickers, dressed in his winter-weight Cubs uniform and holding a blue ukulele showed up outisde the WGN-AM 720 showcase studio this morning when I dropped in to visit with Jonathon Brandmeier. I mentioned on the air that Wickers...

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Held in the country's third-largest city, one 10 times the size of Greensboro, N.C., the Big Ten Conference tournament has a much different feel and look than the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
That was quite noticeable to the Maryland fans who made the trip to United Center for Friday's quarterfinal game against Indiana, an eventual 75-69 win, particularly those who had regularly traveled to Greensboro Coliseum.
Sitting a few rows behind one of the baskets, Larry Grabenstein and his three...

Mayoral candidates were out Monday in 11th-hour bids to win over voters before Election Day.
Chicago voters can cast in-person absentee ballots downtown Monday before conventional voting takes place Tuesday around the city in an election headlined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is seeking a second term, and challengers Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, Bob Fioretti, Willie Wilson and William "Dock" Walls.
Absentee voting ended at 5 p.m. Monday at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners office, 69 W. Washington St....

When Leo Burnett launched his Chicago advertising agency in 1935, one of his first creative strokes was adding "Jolly" to the Green Giant's moniker, turning the once-menacing mascot into a beloved household name.
Nearly 80 years later, his namesake agency is likewise giant and, according to its employees, jolly, where long hours and loyalty are rewarded with everything from free late-night pizzas to annual blowout parties.
Leo Burnett ranked No. 12 among large companies in the Tribune's Top Workplaces...

Though 15 months have passed since the first arrests in City Hall's Hired Truck scandal, Mayor Richard Daley said Wednesday he still doesn't know who in his administration installed the corrupt Angelo Torres as head of the trucking program.
Describing himself as "hurt, embarrassed, disappointed" by broadening allegations of wrongdoing uncovered by federal prosecutors, Daley said as many as seven names of possible Torres sponsors have been floated around City Hall and the mayor's aides are seeking to...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said today that a goat's head dropped off at Wrigley Field is no laughing matter, but tell that to Cubs players.
"Come up with something original," scoffed Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija, noting that the billy goat curse against the team "has only been around for 60 or 70 years. You would think they would come up with something new."
"I don't have many thoughts on that," said Cubs manager Dale Sveum. "It's just some unfortunate fan doing something crazy. I spent two years in Boston,...

"Royko in Love: Mike's Letters to Carol"
Edited by David Royko
University of Chicago Press, $24, 254 pages
This city worships Mike Royko as an icon; the sharp-tongued, Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist who feared no one. Whether people sat next to him at Billy Goat Tavern by night or read his work every day, they felt they knew him.
Even those who knew Royko through his books, such as “Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago,” found him genuine and familiar.
But how well can we really...